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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
At around the 77% mark this whole story just starts to crumble before my eyes. What felt like a nice satisfying slow burn turned instalove and magical plot lines sort of sprang up without warnings. Reveals without much lead up and no context. Just…strange. Not gonna lie…I about skimmed the last 25% just to say I finished and didn’t DNF. Hoping the whole time it would redeem itself. Never happened.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
omg??? OMG????
4.5/5 ✨
HELLO??? why is no one talking about this book!?!?!
This was soooo fucking good. I honestly got like 200 pages in and just could not stop. I cannot believe that more people haven’t talked about this!
My favorite part was honestly the plot and the story we get bits of along the way. I really liked the ending and how she wrapped it up (with a cliff hanger of course). I really liked the characters and all the suspense through the whole book!
I loved the concept of the world being plunged in total darkness. It made for a really interesting story and plot line. The characters were heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. I lovedddd Ki and her unrelenting passion for her friends and family. I guessed a few things here and there but outside of them, I had really no idea what the ending had in store which made it ALL THE MUCH BETTER
4.5/5 ✨
HELLO??? why is no one talking about this book!?!?!
This was soooo fucking good. I honestly got like 200 pages in and just could not stop. I cannot believe that more people haven’t talked about this!
My favorite part was honestly the plot and the story we get bits of along the way. I really liked the ending and how she wrapped it up (with a cliff hanger of course). I really liked the characters and all the suspense through the whole book!
I loved the concept of the world being plunged in total darkness. It made for a really interesting story and plot line. The characters were heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. I lovedddd Ki and her unrelenting passion for her friends and family. I guessed a few things here and there but outside of them, I had really no idea what the ending had in store which made it ALL THE MUCH BETTER
okaaaayyyy where to even start with this one.
I feel really cheated by this, because the summary made it sound so promising, and the book failed to deliver on any of it. Atmospheric? Nope. Tense? Try boring and unbelievably repetitive (which tends to happen when your characters are exactly the same on page 400 as they are on page 1 and your plot is thinner than a slice of tissue paper). "The other knights may fear their merciless commander..." ok where though cause all they do is goof around? None of them act scared like once in the whole book. The narrative tells us theyre scared but they sure don't act like it.
This also commits the biggest sin for me for a fantasy, which is that the world building basically doesnt exist. We get a few stated facts here and there, and then the story just moves on without ever acknowledging those things. To my understanding, they live in a world of eternal night, but never once do we touch on the consequences of that despite bringing the sun back being the only goal of the characters (although Kiara literally doesnt seem to care- she never thinks about it).
The only thing we hear about the Mist is that its dangerous and kills anything that goes inside it, but somehow, there are groups of bandits that wander around in there? Make it make sense.
Instalove, also like insta-found family which was super annoying? Literally the first time the two characters interact they're into each other, which i never like in books, but it was especially irksome here because... the characters have literally no personality AND they're emotional state literally does not change through the entire fking book somehow???? They see each other, they make goo goo eyes at each other and flirt with each other at extremely inappropriate moments (like: someone just died moments, ect) and then... they keep doing that all the way to the end. Neither of them have any character growth what so ever. Anyone who isnt Kiara or Jude literally doesnt exist. As in, they have no traits other than, if they're lucky, a name and a superficially assigned trait such as Funny or... Also Funny. That's honestly it. No one else even has traits at all. Despite that, Kiara somehow still feels inconsistent, especially in the second half when they're in the deadly and mysterious mist. Kiara is more focused on Jude's abs than the fact that several of her friends (people she's known for a week) are missing and a few of them just died in front of her. The first chapter sees Kiara willing to do anything to protect her brother, but after she leaves, she rarely thinks of him, if ever. She also thinks in her internal monogluge that she's panicking multiple times... but she's not. She's the same boring flat character, and without the line literally saying she feels panicked, you would no idea. No mood, emotion, or tension is present in the writing. Somehow, despite being paper thin, the side characters are wildly inconsistent. It only gets worse in the second half.
And i hate to bash writing for an author thats just starting out, but oh god. This was bad, on a craft level. Holy cow. This needed many more passes of editing before it ever saw the light of day. Personal preference, but i dislike when there are multiple POVs all in first person. Obviously, that is purely a matter taste. However, if you are going to have two POV characters, ESPECIALLY if they're both in first person, you need to make their voices distinct, and that was an utter failure here. Jude and Kiara sound the same, down to phrases and language quirks. If you dont look at whose name is on the chapter header, you have no idea whose head youre supposed to be in.
There are also no descriptions of anything, which adds to the shoddy world building. The few times something IS described, it's....weird. Like, the descriptions stick out like a sore thumb because they are so few and far between, and it's always very clunky and often extremely distracting from what's meant to be the point of the scene. Like when Kiara is escaping to follow Jude and the dudes (sidenote: why does she not just fuck off back to her beloved brother who supposedly means the world to her? she's known these fucking people for like 4 days. anyway) she describes in greeeeeeeeeeeat detail the dagger she stole to bribe a stable hand. Which she then.... bribes a stablehand with, and it's never seen again. Yippee. So glad i just wasted so much time with that. Also: the word onyx. Girl. Other words for black exist. Please. It's used 6 times as a descriptor for a multitude of things in the space of 4 pages (i counted) and then a lot more throughout the the rest of the book as well. The overall prose was very clumsy as well. Very what you see is what you get, you know? No depth, no flavor. Almost felt like it was written by AI or something. Actually, that wouldn't surprise me. Also one chapter ends with Jude the Dude getting bonked on the head and passing out...and his next chapter literally starts with "I regained consciousness and ran after them." Like? What's even the point then? Just dont do that???? ugh
The lack of detail also severely affected the legibility of certain scenes, especially action scenes. Things happen but it's so underwritten that it's often genuinely difficult to tell what's going on.
It was also hard to take anything seriously with the insane tonal problems. Jude the Dude's best friend (or so he says- we never see this on page, so the guy's death has no weight to it whatsoever) literally dies in front of him, and not even two pages later he's cuddling with the FMC and joking around playing in a stream. This sort of thing happens constantly.
This really felt a first draft that was thoroughly unedited, and it's become very apparent that this is a pattern with Entangled/Red Tower because so far, their best book has been Fourth Wing and while that thing was a fucking mess, at least it had like, a plot and characters that had. You know. Traits and stuff. The bar is literally on the ground. This is quickly becoming a no-buy publisher for me.
TLDR this feels like a terrible Hunt Athalar/Bryce Quinlain fanfic got put through ChatGPT
I feel really cheated by this, because the summary made it sound so promising, and the book failed to deliver on any of it. Atmospheric? Nope. Tense? Try boring and unbelievably repetitive (which tends to happen when your characters are exactly the same on page 400 as they are on page 1 and your plot is thinner than a slice of tissue paper). "The other knights may fear their merciless commander..." ok where though cause all they do is goof around? None of them act scared like once in the whole book. The narrative tells us theyre scared but they sure don't act like it.
This also commits the biggest sin for me for a fantasy, which is that the world building basically doesnt exist. We get a few stated facts here and there, and then the story just moves on without ever acknowledging those things. To my understanding, they live in a world of eternal night, but never once do we touch on the consequences of that despite bringing the sun back being the only goal of the characters (although Kiara literally doesnt seem to care- she never thinks about it).
The only thing we hear about the Mist is that its dangerous and kills anything that goes inside it, but somehow, there are groups of bandits that wander around in there? Make it make sense.
Instalove, also like insta-found family which was super annoying? Literally the first time the two characters interact they're into each other, which i never like in books, but it was especially irksome here because... the characters have literally no personality AND they're emotional state literally does not change through the entire fking book somehow???? They see each other, they make goo goo eyes at each other and flirt with each other at extremely inappropriate moments (like: someone just died moments, ect) and then... they keep doing that all the way to the end. Neither of them have any character growth what so ever. Anyone who isnt Kiara or Jude literally doesnt exist. As in, they have no traits other than, if they're lucky, a name and a superficially assigned trait such as Funny or... Also Funny. That's honestly it. No one else even has traits at all. Despite that, Kiara somehow still feels inconsistent, especially in the second half when they're in the deadly and mysterious mist. Kiara is more focused on Jude's abs than the fact that several of her friends (people she's known for a week) are missing and a few of them just died in front of her. The first chapter sees Kiara willing to do anything to protect her brother, but after she leaves, she rarely thinks of him, if ever. She also thinks in her internal monogluge that she's panicking multiple times... but she's not. She's the same boring flat character, and without the line literally saying she feels panicked, you would no idea. No mood, emotion, or tension is present in the writing. Somehow, despite being paper thin, the side characters are wildly inconsistent. It only gets worse in the second half.
And i hate to bash writing for an author thats just starting out, but oh god. This was bad, on a craft level. Holy cow. This needed many more passes of editing before it ever saw the light of day. Personal preference, but i dislike when there are multiple POVs all in first person. Obviously, that is purely a matter taste. However, if you are going to have two POV characters, ESPECIALLY if they're both in first person, you need to make their voices distinct, and that was an utter failure here. Jude and Kiara sound the same, down to phrases and language quirks. If you dont look at whose name is on the chapter header, you have no idea whose head youre supposed to be in.
There are also no descriptions of anything, which adds to the shoddy world building. The few times something IS described, it's....weird. Like, the descriptions stick out like a sore thumb because they are so few and far between, and it's always very clunky and often extremely distracting from what's meant to be the point of the scene. Like when Kiara is escaping to follow Jude and the dudes (sidenote: why does she not just fuck off back to her beloved brother who supposedly means the world to her? she's known these fucking people for like 4 days. anyway) she describes in greeeeeeeeeeeat detail the dagger she stole to bribe a stable hand. Which she then.... bribes a stablehand with, and it's never seen again. Yippee. So glad i just wasted so much time with that. Also: the word onyx. Girl. Other words for black exist. Please. It's used 6 times as a descriptor for a multitude of things in the space of 4 pages (i counted) and then a lot more throughout the the rest of the book as well. The overall prose was very clumsy as well. Very what you see is what you get, you know? No depth, no flavor. Almost felt like it was written by AI or something. Actually, that wouldn't surprise me. Also one chapter ends with Jude the Dude getting bonked on the head and passing out...and his next chapter literally starts with "I regained consciousness and ran after them." Like? What's even the point then? Just dont do that???? ugh
The lack of detail also severely affected the legibility of certain scenes, especially action scenes. Things happen but it's so underwritten that it's often genuinely difficult to tell what's going on.
It was also hard to take anything seriously with the insane tonal problems. Jude the Dude's best friend (or so he says- we never see this on page, so the guy's death has no weight to it whatsoever) literally dies in front of him, and not even two pages later he's cuddling with the FMC and joking around playing in a stream. This sort of thing happens constantly.
This really felt a first draft that was thoroughly unedited, and it's become very apparent that this is a pattern with Entangled/Red Tower because so far, their best book has been Fourth Wing and while that thing was a fucking mess, at least it had like, a plot and characters that had. You know. Traits and stuff. The bar is literally on the ground. This is quickly becoming a no-buy publisher for me.
TLDR this feels like a terrible Hunt Athalar/Bryce Quinlain fanfic got put through ChatGPT
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book featured many tried and true staples (or tropes) of the YA dark fantasy genre. Apart from there being more character deaths than I initially expected, I found the plot somewhat predictable. Perhaps that's more due to the fact that I've read a lot of these kinds of books than anything else.
I found the two leads pretty likable, I am not a big enemies-to-lovers fan, so I appreciated a more refreshing example of two people who just happen to have natural chemistry and bring out the best in each other. They always treated each other like respectful equals, despite there technically being a power imbalance.
Praise be to Moira Quirk for her masterful narration, as always. I appreciate when audiobooks do dual narrators for dual POVs, but honestly I wouldn't have minded if she narrated the whole thing. Sorry to the male narrator, he was fine.
I found the two leads pretty likable, I am not a big enemies-to-lovers fan, so I appreciated a more refreshing example of two people who just happen to have natural chemistry and bring out the best in each other. They always treated each other like respectful equals, despite there technically being a power imbalance.
Praise be to Moira Quirk for her masterful narration, as always. I appreciate when audiobooks do dual narrators for dual POVs, but honestly I wouldn't have minded if she narrated the whole thing. Sorry to the male narrator, he was fine.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, Murder
Minor: Cursing, Physical abuse
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
This book was fantastic and I’m honestly shocked to see the mixed reviews.
Did this book start out a little slow? Sure but was it working toward building a relational tension, world building and setting up the stakes? Yes
By the time I got to the 1/3 mark I was hooked. I loved the snarky banter, smoldering romance, unique world building, lore and plot twists I didn’t see coming.
I would highly recommend this book to readers who have the patience’s to allow a story to unfold and build.
Can’t wait to dig into book 2 when it comes out
Did this book start out a little slow? Sure but was it working toward building a relational tension, world building and setting up the stakes? Yes
By the time I got to the 1/3 mark I was hooked. I loved the snarky banter, smoldering romance, unique world building, lore and plot twists I didn’t see coming.
I would highly recommend this book to readers who have the patience’s to allow a story to unfold and build.
Can’t wait to dig into book 2 when it comes out
4.5-a little too heavy on the romantic focus for me. But the storyline, characters, dialog, and cliffhanger were excellent!
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated